Modern low-maintenance cabin is a seamless extension of the Puget Sound landscape

This modest yet stunning cabin overlooking beautiful views of Washington’s Puget Sound is a triumph of modern, environmentally sensitive design. Seattle-based MW works designed the Case Inlet Retreat for clients who had hiked, camped, and paddled on the 20-acre site for years and wanted a home that would forge a strong relationship with the land. The low-maintenance cabin beautifully delivers on the clients’ requirements and has since won several American Institute of Architects awards, including a 2016 National Honor Award.

Tucked away on a forested slope along the eastern edge of the Case Inlet, the compact retreat is a quiet and low-maintenance sanctuary that blends into the landscape with large glazed surfaces and a natural materials palette. A weathered cedar-clad volume anchors the building in the north and houses the master bedroom en suite with the bath located in a wood-lined, light-filled room overlooking views of the outdoors—a space the homeowners describe as their “favorite spot to enjoy a glass of wine at [the] day’s end.” A stairway next to the bathroom leads to the basement, where a guest bedroom, bathroom, mechanical room, and storage room are located.

In contrast to the mostly opaque sleeping volume, the living spaces are wrapped in glazing for a transparent effect. A concrete cantilever juts out over the edge to the west, projecting the open-plan living room, kitchen, and dining area towards panoramic views of the tree canopy and water. The kitchen sits on an Ipe wood deck that seamlessly extends the building footprint beyond sliding glass doors and into an outdoor meadow bathed in afternoon light in the south. A broad timber-clad flat roof, accessible via a staircase, tops the cabin and offers homeowners the chance to immerse themselves in the evergreen canopy.